


No Longer Alone

by Griddlebone



Category: Power Rangers R.P.M.
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Loneliness, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 13:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2271231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/pseuds/Griddlebone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>K adjusts to having company in her lab.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Longer Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PockySquirrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PockySquirrel/gifts).



K stood in the middle of her lab and stared around her in abject bewilderment. The lab's austere orderliness was gone, replaced with a cheerful chaos that left K at a complete loss for words.

Even before the dome went up permanently around Corinth, K's lab had been painstakingly organized to ensure optimal productivity. Everyone involved in Project Ranger at that point had assumed this was because time was of the essence and the mysterious K – because even then she'd known to shroud herself in secrecy – was painstakingly brilliant. They had only been partly right.

The lab's cold sterility and enforced productivity had been nothing more than K's attempt to fill the horrible void in her life, the void created by the dissolution of Alphabet Soup, the sudden rise of the Venjix virus and the collapse of the global human civilization, the loss of the only things she had ever known.

But now, that carefully constructed apparatus had collapsed around her. It hadn't even been one day yet. One day since…

K's lips curved into an involuntary smile.

It hadn't even been one day yet since she had been reunited with two friends presumed lost forever, the friends who had been the initial prototypes for Project Ranger in the first place, but who had died amid the destruction of Alphabet Soup. Or at least, who hadn't been seen since the downfall of humanity.

In all the time since then, K had not even dared to hope.

Her smile grew wider until a joyous laugh escaped her lips.

Gem and Gemma paused in their enthusiastic investigation of the lab and turned to K. While K would have objected vehemently if any of _her_ Rangers behaved this recklessly in the lab, she had no problem at all with Gem and Gemma doing the same thing. She trusted them. They shared much of her past, including training under Alphabet Soup. They wouldn't mess anything up. At least not too much. And if they did, she didn't care. She was too happy to have them back. In this moment, nothing else mattered to K: she had Gem and Gemma back.

For the first time since the dome went up around Corinth, K actually had hope that Venjix could be defeated and humanity could survive. If Gem and Gemma had made it out there and found their way to Corinth against impossible odds, anything was possible. K might even be able to clean up the mess she had made when she unknowingly released Venjix on the world. They might be able to win this fight, rather than hoping for mere survival.

The thought made her feel giddy. But not as giddy as having her two oldest friends back did.

Suddenly, Gemma was standing in front of her, looking entirely too serious. "K," she said, drawing out the syllable in a playful way that tugged at K's heart. "This is a great lab!"

K wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Look at all this stuff!" Gemma went on, as if K had somehow missed the fact that her lab was outfitted with the most advanced technology in human hands.

"Yes," K agreed. Somewhere beyond the range of her vision, K could hear Gem puttering around with more equipment. "It's wonderful."

But it was more wonderful than it had ever been before, because Gemma was in it now. Gemma flitted aside, staring around her in wonderment, taking in the array of new equipment that was now at her disposal. K stayed rooted where she stood, soaking up the sensation of being surrounded once again by the special bond she shared with the twins.

K leaned back slightly, almost instinctively, knowing Gemma would be there to support her. As predicted, Gemma's arms wrapped carefully around her as soon as she gave the slightest indication of being off-balance, and for a moment they simply stayed that way: K suffused in warmth, and Gemma welcoming and protective, as strong and supportive as ever, as if no time at all had passed since they were parted. It was amazing, really, how gentle someone as bombastic and often violent as Gemma was could be.

Others might not have trusted her, considering her customary behavior, but K trusted her implicitly. Her only real fear now was that she might lose her friends all over again.

"Gem and I aren't going anywhere," Gemma confirmed, as if in response to K's unasked question. She paused thoughtfully, then added, "Unless it's back out to the wasteland to make Venjix go boom!"

"Maybe you don't have to go back out there… just yet," K said sharply, stifling panic at the thought of losing Gemma and her brother again so soon. She had only just got them back, and it had taken an enormous effort to get Colonel Truman to agree to it in the first place. "Maybe we can work on some projects here in the lab first…"

Gemma drew in a sharp breath and abruptly released K. Dizzily, K turned to follow Gemma's motion. She had to see Gemma's face, see what had prompted that response.

But Gemma was beaming. "I'd like that!" she said, her voice too-loud in her excitement, but K had never minded the twins' eccentricities. Other people, she knew, found them unnerving, but K thought they were endearing. "It's been way too long since Gem and I had a real lab to work in. With all this stuff –" she gestured wildly around her, but K did not for an instant fear she would cause any damage to the delicate equipment all around them "– we can make something that'll _really_ make Venjix go boom!"

Somewhere, on the opposite side of the lab, something exploded as if in response to Gemma's declaration. K winced slightly, if only in surprise. Gemma laughed; Gem's voice echoed her excitement. He'd obviously been responsible for the boom. And while K had no doubt that nothing of real value had been destroyed in the explosion, she knew she would have to do some fast talking to convince her team of Rangers (and the military) that her old friends weren't as reckless and dangerous as they might seem at first.

But she wasn't too worried about that right now. The Ranger Series Operators… the defense of Corinth… the destruction of Venjix… It could all wait. What mattered right now was…

Smiling against the tears that still threatened to pour from her eyes at any moment, K led Gemma over to see what Gem had gotten into. "Oh," she said, taking a deep breath as she beheld the still-in-progress and as yet unnamed Device on the table. "Gemma, you're going to _love_ this!"

As she launched into an animated explanation of the highly technical apparatus and its intended purpose, Gemma listening eagerly to her every word and suggesting a variety of wild and wonderfully ridiculous names and uses for the Device, K felt alive for the first time in months. In fact very little about her situation had actually changed with the addition of Gem and Gemma to the Ranger team, but this one small change made all the difference. With Gem and Gemma in it, the lab in Corinth finally felt like _home_.


End file.
